


Dracula AD 20??

by Mag1ster



Category: Doctor Who, Dracula - Fandom, House of Cards Trilogy, Yes Prime Minister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 20:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mag1ster/pseuds/Mag1ster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Preparations for the London Olympics take an unexpected turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dracula AD 20??

Papers released January 1 2042 under 30-year rule. Certain names have been obscured for reasons of sensitivity

 

Email dated 24/06/07  
From: WXXXXX, BXXXXX   
To: Enfield, Robert   
Subject: That damn church

Finally got confirmation vis-à-vis St Bartolph’s Church. I have a free hand. Of course, when I was told this, it was made abundantly clear just what I should do with that free hand. If the area in general is to go, then the church is to go along with it. Compulsory purchase order, listed or otherwise.

Tony is very much in favour, it seems – in with the old, out with the new. Heavy hint dropped that Cherie had a say in it somewhere. Also, Tony’s looking to distance himself from the God Squad after all the fuss over George B’s comments, identifying the European Union as the Beast from Revelations. I knew there’d be trouble over that visit. As Sir Humphrey used to say – one visit from a politician undoes four careful years diplomatic work. 

Anyway, the church is an easy target. We can head off the God-botherers, with a few words on Thought for the Day. The old building freaks might be a bit more difficult, but I’m sure we can get round them – announce that some other dreadful place is to be restored. Get the BBC to do a programme on it. As long as they can look at that Rhys Jones man standing in front of a pile of stones somewhere, they’ll be happy. That just leaves the fancy-dress fringe who creep in there and do black magic. They’ll go when the rest of the area gets razed. They’re being shipped to Walthamstow or somewhere.

We can sell the idea to the mob. Out with the old, in with the new. Out goes tumbledown church, in comes Olympic village. Winner. Got to be.

See you in the club – 9-ish? We’ll discuss ideas. Look forward to hearing what you see as the way forward.

 

Email dated 24/07/08  
From: Enfield, Robert   
To: WXXXXX, BXXXXX   
Subject: St Bartolph

Well, I suppose it had to happen. One of the lunatic fringe had to get through, didn’t he? I had my guard down at the time or I would never have agreed to see him. Special request for a favour from someone at the Yard – apparently his uncle used to work for them in some capacity or other. VXX HXXXXXX, he was called. Not at all what you would have expected to look at him. Most of these black magic freaks are rich young things with time to spare while Mummy and Daddy pay for their degrees. Play Marilyn Manson in a churchyard at midnight and spend five minutes trying to summon something up – all so they can get off with whoever sits next to them in their 9am lecture. This one was quite different. 50 or so. Very Olde Worlde manners. Stood up when Miss Hacker brought in coffee. Just as mad as all the others, though. Tried to tell me that excavating the church would have dire consequences – release evil and terror the like of which I couldn’t imagine. I felt like telling him – I was Francis Urquhart’s diary secretary. After that, nothing frightens you. Eventually had to have him removed – damn fool was practically in tears, bleating on about death and destruction. Bernard, you owe me for this one. I accept payment in single malt scotch. See you about eight-ish.

 

From the audio journal of Lionel VXX HXXXXXX.  
Cassette 317. Side A. Dated 24/07/08

I fear I may have erred grievously. I used one of Uncle Lorrimer’s old contacts at Scotland Yard to put me in touch with the man in charge of the redevelopment, as they call it. I don’t know what I hoped would happen – I didn’t know what I was going to say to him until I said it. I babbled. I ranted about untold evils buried in the churchyard and how it must never be disturbed. Clearly he thought me mad and I cannot find it in my heart to blame him. Were I in his shoes I would have thought the same. And maybe he is right. I have no proof that… that he may have returned. I pray that it is nothing – that the deaths mean nothing - that it is but some lunatic who roams the streets. And yet, I cannot help but feel that I deceive myself – that there is far more at stake here. If he has returned, then it will be to come for me. I fear for my life and worse – I fear for my immortal soul. And yet I must be strong. Too many of us have fallen to him. If he has returned, I must take revenge for the house of VXX HXXXXXX.

 

From the Evening Standard 15/08/08 page 1

Dracula killer strikes again, by Johnny Harker

Another victim has fallen to the so-called “Dracula killer” who has stalked the streets for weeks now. The body of 19 year-old Mina Westenra was found outside the ruined church of St Bartolph early this morning. The body was discovered by PC Quentin Morris shortly after 3 am lying on the pavement. There was no sign of a struggle and no visible wounds although the body was again drained of most of its blood. Miss Westenra’s parents issued a statement earlier today saying that their daughter was “a wonderful girl who brought happiness into the life of everyone she met” and appealing to anyone who was in the area of St Bartolph’s church between 2:30 and 3 am to contact the police.   
The spot where Miss Westenra’s body was found is only forty yards from where the killer’s first victim, Lucy Harker, was found on the 29th of July and is the exact place where Anita Holmwood’s body was left a week later on 6th August. Like Miss Westenra, both bodies were drained of blood.  
St Bartolph’s church first became infamous as the spot where Johnny Alucard killed several victims in 1972, also draining them of their blood. Police found Mr Alucard dead in his penthouse and a verdict of suicide was recorded. A police spokesman today had no comment when asked if this was a copycat killer.

 

From the audio journal of Lionel VXX HXXXXXX.  
Cassette 327. Side B. Dated 27/08/08

Finally I have no doubts. My certainty has grown over the past weeks, but ever I told myself that there were other possibilities. I looked for other reasons. I told myself – just because people are vanishing - there can always be other explanations. People leave. They travel. They escape. They may die. But there are killers other than vampires. Sometimes I envy the ones who came before me. My uncle Lorrimer and Abraham and all the others. I suppose they must have had their doubts but they always overcame them. I must be firm. I must be firm. They faced him who I have seen. I went there last night and I saw him. I saw – 

(Break in recording)

I must say his name. I must name him. It is only a word. There is no power in that. Dracula. Count Dracula. He walks still. But I have named him and if I can do that, then I must hope that I can do more. Perhaps I can face him. Perhaps I can defeat him. 

But I am afraid. I went to the old church. To St Bartolph where my uncle faced him. I saw him there. I saw him feed. I was in the bushes outside. I looked through a window and I saw him. For a moment I thought he saw me, that he looked at me, but his gaze passed. If he had spoken my name I believe I would have gone to him.

I must put an end to this. 

 

From The Daily Star 25/08/08

Drac’s back says church loony

A wealthy recluse has called on the government to put a stop to the demolition of St Bartolph’s church – because a VAMPIRE is buried under it! Self-proclaimed fighter of the undead Lionel VXX HXXXXXX yesterday said that the destruction of St Bartolph’s church would release vampire overlord Count Dracula on the world. Loony Lionel

Threatened death and destruction if the work went ahead  
Said his own uncle had entombed the bloodsucking fiend under the church  
And claimed his own niece had almost become a victim of Dracula.

A government spokesman said yesterday: “We do not think this worthy of comment.”

 

From the enquiry into the events of 02 September 2008 at St Bartolph’s church.

Statement from Mr Robert Seward.

… And so by half past twelve, the explosives had been set, the wiring complete and I was waiting for the signal that the church was clear before setting off the explosives. I’d been talking to one of the police about the protestors who’d turned up. He was telling me that they were a pretty typical bunch. He said they were a mixture of students waiting till Countdown started and some old biddies with nothing else to do. That was when I saw him. He didn’t look like the others – tall and thin with grey hair and dressed in a black velvet jacket and bow tie. He managed to break through the line of police and sprinted towards me. He was shouting something about revenge over centuries or some such. I tried to grab him, but he smashed me in the face with something and knocked me over. I think I must have passed out for a moment. The next thing I knew, he’d dashed into the church and several of the police were following him. After a couple of minutes suddenly he came running back out. He must have lost them in there – when I was laying the charges I’d gone down into the cellar and the crypt. It was quite a maze down there – all these little rooms - and I guess he must have lost them in there. He came running straight at me. I thought he was going to attack me again, so I jumped back, ready to run. Instead he grabbed the control for the explosives and set them off. The men in there didn’t have a chance. They were all dead. He killed them all.

 

Taken from the police interview of Mr Lionel VXX HXXXXXX by Detective Inspector A Stoker. 

2 September 2008. Interview started 4:31pm. Extract starts 4:54 pm

Inspector Stoker: So, sir, can you explain what happened when you went into the church?

V H: Well, as I said, I knew what was waiting for me. It is known that such creatures as Dracula have powers of changing form. I knew that before the charges went off, I had to seal him in his coffin otherwise, come nightfall, he would be free to roam the streets of London, amidst the great whirl and rush of life, free to seek his next victim.

I.S.: And how exactly did you go about sealing him into his coffin?

V H: Ah, well, by great good fortune I was able to secure a small portion of the Host and also some holy water. These I was able to insert into the crack between the lid and the body of the coffin. And thus he would be trapped. I do know what you must be thinking, Inspector. You think me mad. And you and your colleagues blame me for the deaths of those men who followed me into the church. All I can say is that I was fighting evil, Inspector – fighting it as surely as ever you have done. I grieve the deaths of those men, but I would do the same again. I know I have done my duty. If I were to die tonight I know that this day’s work would mean I had not lived in vain.

 

E-mail dated 11/11/08  
From: Tepes, Dr Anton  
To: WXXXXX, BXXXXXX

I appreciate your position with the Cabinet – I’ve had a couple of missives from the Home Sec about VXX HXXXXXX – he made it very clear that he wants an example made of him. 400 years ago, he’d be demanding the man’s head on a pike over the city gates. But in all conscience, I can’t agree. The man’s mad. He genuinely believes what he says. He’s convinced that he’s destroyed a vampire. Locking him up in a jail would be the worst thing for him. Whatever he’s done, he’s still my patient and I have a duty of care to him.

Also, your Home Sec isn’t the only one who can bring pressure to bear in high places. The VXX HXXXXXX family has a lot of friends. There’s a gentleman from the United Nations you’ll be hearing from, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. Apparently he and my patient’s uncle worked together regularly. He’s very keen that the name of VXX HXXXXXX does not appear in the public domain in any way connected with these events.

Bury it, Bernard. Bury it deep.

 

E-mail dated 09/07/12  
From Tepes, Dr Vlad  
To WXXXXXX, BXXXXXX 

…and I have to say that I’ve never seen anything like it. VXX HXXXXXX’s body was found first thing in the morning of Thursday the fifth lying on the floor in his room. The only visible injury was a deep bite mark on the inside of his left wrist. At autopsy, it was found that the level of blood in the body was far below normal levels and that this was what had caused his death. The question was where the blood had gone. There were a few drops of it on the floor where he lay, such as you might expect from a cut finger or the like. It was only when we came to perform an analysis of the stomach contents that we found the answer. His stomach contained four pints of blood. The teeth marks on his wrist were his own. Lionel VXX HXXXXXX bit into his own wrist and killed himself by drinking his own blood.

 

Taken from the Deaths column of The Times, 11 July 2012

VXX HXXXXXX, Lionel, died peacefully in a private nursing home 5th July 2012 after a long illness, patiently borne. Body to be cremated at a private ceremony. No flowers. He leaves no issue.

 

E-mail dated 11/07/12  
From Enfield, Robert  
To WXXXXXX, BXXXXXX 

… and the Romanian team is kicking up the most almighty fuss. One of them says that they saw a figure in the Olympic village last night. It was a tall, thin man with deep set eyes, dressed in black and very pale with blood dripping from his mouth….

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the Hammer film Dracula AD1972 and assuming that The Satanic Rites of Dracula never happened. Nothing against SROD - it just works this way. I wanted to write a sequel to the Hammer film, but using the structure Stoker used for the original novel. Also, the Van Helsing in the novel is not as ruthlessly efficent as the one Peter Cushing played for Hammer. Given that Cushing was so good at portraying people out of their depth, I wanted one who was struggling to cope.


End file.
